Mattos and Mandel lead the Men's and Women's Fencing squads at the Brandeis Invitational

Dec 02, 2012

WALTHAM, Mass.- On Sunday December 2nd the Men's and Women's hosted the Brandeis Invitational as the men went 1-3 and the women went 2-3 on the afternoon.

On the women's side, Brandeis had a rough start to the day falling to North Carolina (16-11), Cornell (18-9), and St. John's (21-6) before rebounding to win their final two matches against Yale (14-13) and Johns Hopkins (15-12). The saber squad came up with the most crucial win of the day defeating Yale 6-3 to put the Judges on their way to the 14-13 victory while the epee squad had Brandeis' most lopsided win of the day defeating Johns Hopkins 7-2.

Individually, rookie Caroline Mattos (Cumberland, R.I./ LaSalle Acad.) was the top performer as a member of the foil squad going 11-4 including getting the squad's only two wins against Cornell and St. John's and going undefeated against North Carolina and Johns Hopkins. Seniors Zoe Messinger (Short Hills, N.J./ Millburn) and Emmily Smith (Stony Brook, N.Y./ Ward-Melville) led the saber squad with nine and eight wins respectively while rookie Sonya Glickman led the epee squad with six wins including a 3-0 performance against Johns Hopkins.

On the men's side, Brandeis had a tough afternoon losing two 14-13 decisions to North Carolina and Yale while also falling to St. John's 21-6 before defeating Johns Hopkins in their final match of the tournament 17-10. The saber squad was the Judges' most successful of the afternoon going 3-1 as they won 6-3 against North Carolina, Yale, and Johns Hopkins before narrowly bowing to St. John's 5-4.

Individually, sophomore Adam Mandel (White Plains, N.Y/ Masters School) had an excellent day for the saber squad going 7-1 and not losing until his final match by a 5-4 score. Classmate Noah Berman (Palo Alto, Calif./ Palo Alto) led the foil squad with a good afternoon as he also earned seven wins including going 3-0 against Johns Hopkins . Seniors Harry Kaufer (Newton, Mass./ Newton South) and Mike Zook (Chicago, Ill./Univ. of Chicago Lab School) led the epee squad with four wins apiece while Kaufer earned the squad's only win against a tough St. John's squad.

The men's team continues their season on January 26th at the second Northeast Fencing Conference meet of the year while the women face off against Wellesley at home on January 23rd.